A thorough introduction to Angela Carter designed for A Level students beginning study of The Bloody Chamber. The booklet covers key biographical information on Carter, including the experiences in Japan which shaped her as a writer. There are accessible introductions to essentialism, feminism, including the virgin-whore dichotomy, and post-modernism. Charles Perrault's version of 'Bluebeard' is also included to kick off study of the title story of the collection, as well as an exploration of artistic influences on Carter's version of this tale, including Impressionism and Symbolism. There is an analysis of each of the Marquis' wives and a collaborative research task. The booklet includes a number of questions and wider reading tasks. Designed for the OCR spec as part of the 'Gothic' module which heavily weights context and requires knowledge of the author's biography and wider works as well as critical traditions and alternative readings. Includes occasional reference to Dracula, as this was the partner text, however could be used with any other Gothic partner text or on its own. I studied Carter for my undergraduate dissertation and Master's degree and draw on that knowledge here, in a format that aims to be compact and accessible for students.

A detailed but compact A3 reversible revision resource for A Level students studying Angela Carter and The Bloody Chamber. One side of the sheet focuses on context and the other side on critics and theoretical approaches, both key Assessment Objectives on the OCR new linear A Level. The theoretical approaches covered are feminism, post-modernism and pyschoanalysis and a list of key critical quotations is provided. The context side includes a summary of source texts, a reminder of the text's artistic influences, a number of quotations from Carter herself, taken from her letters and essays, and information on other key Carter texts The Sadeian Woman, Fireworks and The Passion of New Eve. My Sixth Form students found this resource extremely useful for revision as the contextual and critical knowledge required for the exam can seem overwhelming - this brings it together in one place.

An A Level revision resource with fifteen key quotations from The Merchant's Tale which cover a range of themes and events. The meaning of each quotation is explained in modern English and there is a ticklist for the student to use when they have learnt the quotation. I found this particularly helpful for students who struggled to learn many quotations in Middle English as it provides a good range of quotes which could be used in lots of different essays.

An A3 double-sided revision resource for Chaucer and The Merchant's Tale context. Includes information on Chaucer's life, The Canterbury Tales, the marriage tales, use of irony, conventions of medieval poetry, the medieval Church, contemporary beliefs about poverty and death, Chaucer's earlier great poem Troilus & Criseyde and specific symbolism, imagery and references in The Merchant's Tale. My students found this a really useful go-to for context revision as the information can seem overwhelming, but here it's brought together in one place.

A 74-question test on the plot of Othello, designed to help A Level students to secure the knowledge required as a foundation for good performance in the exam. The answers are provided separately so that students can check their own responses and repeat the test at home as many times as needed.

• Fully-resourced 12 Week Animal Farm Scheme. • 48 lessons including fully-planned and resourced assessments. Includes 8 peer/self-assessments, 4 teacher assessments and 4 structured D.I.R.T lessons. • The content is deliberately designed to be challenging, in terms of concepts, vocabulary and context. An illustration of activities includes: Mini Lectures, frequent assessment and opportunities for extended writing, research lessons, contextual source material drawn from GCSE History, high level modelling materials and frequent use and repetition of sophisticated vocabulary. • There is a focus on mastery of key technical writing skills. Writing skills lessons & activities are interleaved to prepare students for the SPaG element of the AQA GCSE qualifications. There are a number of fluency activities. • A ‘language through literature’ approach is taken, with the inclusion of reading and writing tasks clearly linked to AQA English GCSE Language Papers 1 & 2. • Homework is inbuilt and is called Independent Study; it is designed to be challenging. It is an essential element of the scheme and linked class activities are based upon independent study tasks. The aim is to improve students’ independent study skills, reform their view of ‘homework’ so that they understand its central role in their learning and significantly improve the rate and quality of completion. The level of challenge increases over the course of the scheme. • D.I.R.T lessons are planned into the scheme for the lesson after the teacher assessment; however, this is a ‘floating’ lesson and there is flexibility in when it is delivered to accommodate marking. It should ideally be delivered within 4 lessons of the assessment. The D.I.R.T lessons will include both structured and independent tasks. • All resources are included with the exception of the following, which I cannot include for copyright reasons: 1. The OCR GCSE Russian History Source Pack which is required for some Independent Study and 2. The article required in Week 5, Lesson 1, ‘The Ghosts of Yalta Still Haunt The World’ by Richard Ebbing. Both resources can be found on Google. • Detailed teaching instructions & differentiation suggestions are contained within the notessection of each PowerPoint slide. • For referencing and page number purposes, the Penguin Classics 2000 edition of the text has been used.

Detailed 2-page resource of analytical notes on 'A Passage to Africa' by George Alagiah - for use with Section B of the Edexcel IGCSE in English Language. I prepared these notes for first-teaching of the extract but also ultimately gave them to students who found them very useful for revision purposes. The notes begin by focusing on purpose, audience and form and then focus in close detail on key linguistic and structural choices made by the writer. This helped my students to gain the in-depth and high level knowledge and skills required to score well on this section.

A bundle of three handy resources on the Marriage Tales and the presentation of January & May's relationship. 'Mapping the Marriage Tales' allows students to summarise each of the marriage tales and plot them on a 'graph' based on the view of marriage presented and who is in charge (videos of the four tales are on YouTube!). The 'Sympathy Graph' is useful for assessing how sympathetic May & January are at different points in the tale. 'The Wedding Night Experience' requires students to explore May and January's different experiences of the consummation of the marriage.

An introductory lesson to The Canterbury Tales focused on an extract from the General Prologue - good for use with an A Level class that is going to go on to study one of the tales. Includes a listening starter activity to introduce the language aurally, then a deduction activity where students try to work out the meaning of individual words from the extract, followed by an interlinear translation activity of this section of the prologue and follow-up analytical questions.

A twenty-two page revision guide on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Contains a combination of information and activities for students to work through, taking them back to the text and asking them to think deeply and independently about characters, language, themes and context. Once completed, the activities then act as a further revision resource for students. This was written with the new AQA GCSE specification in mind and has information on the AQA assessment objectives, but beyond that would be useful for revising the text for any exam board. The booklet includes sections on: The AQA paper and assessment objectives Author Biography Plot Themes & Context Character function, traits and quotations Form and Narrative Structure Language and Structure Nineteenth Century Art and the unconscious mind Setting Practice extract question I have found this very useful as a homework pack for a half term/term, which can be reflected on and further discussed and developed in lessons. Differentiation is inbuilt - for example, a range of quotations is provided for the character activities. Students can analyse and learn a selection of these, or all of them, depending on skill level. A straightforward author biography is provided which will contain sufficient context for some students, but context is returned to in much greater depth in the 'themes and context' section of the booklet to provide stretch and challenge. The section on 19th century art could be used as an optional extension for targeted students or be used to challenge a whole class to develop their contextual knowledge even further. Any questions, please just ask. Thanks.

A detailed, 22-page e-Book on the background, key themes and characters of Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad focusing on historical context, power, sexuality and weaving. Created to give A-Level students the necessary background on The Odyssey and the roles of Penelope and Odysseus in Homer's text, it looks at themes of power and sexuality in the original text, throughout history and the ways in which Atwood explores, challenges and expands on these. The e-Book is divided into the following sections: - Aristotle's philosophical conceptions of power. - Male power in The Odyssey, focusing on Odysseus, Telemachus and The Suitors, followed by a detailed analysis of how male power is represented in Homer's text, looking in particular at storytelling as a male prerogative. - Female power in The Odyssey, focusing on Penelope, the Maids, Circe and Calypso, and the threat of female power and sexuality. - Context on the Virgin-Whore Dichotomy and the Femme Fatale in 20th Century Culture. This is developed into a discussion on the cultural conception of two Penelopes; the virgin and the whore. - Detailed section on the Maids in both texts and their connection to Artemis and her 12 Moon Maidens. - Does Penelope sleep with the suitors? An exploration of this question in Homer and Atwood's texts. - What other forms does female power take?: A look at inaction and weaving as key forms of female power. - Penelope throughout History - An overview looking at Penelope in Ovid's Heroides, 16th and 17th Century poetry and 21st Century film and theatre. - How far does Atwood reject and rewrite the limiting portrayal of Penelope? - An exploration of what Atwood's Penelopiad achieves. Contains critical quotations from Cixous, Stein and Gregersdottir. Please note, the file will need to be opened and read in iBooks, which can be done on any iPad or iPhone, so works well for student revision on the go.

A research activity on Chaucer which requires students to work independently and work through different levels of questions. (I’ve used SOLO Taxonomy to provide a range of questions). The resources included are: a detailed contextual booklet on Chaucer’s life, The Canterbury Tales, and a history of Pilgrimage; differentiated questions which require students to read the booklet and do their own research. This is an effective introductory lesson for A Level study of Chaucer and provides much of the contextual knowledge required by OCR.

A detailed handout explaining the Pluto and Proserpina Interlude in The Merchant's Tale. Their unique presentation and nuanced relationship is explored in relation to the wider tale. Designed for the OCR specification, which weights context heavily.

A descriptive writing lesson drawing on the opening scene in Macbeth, the meeting of the witches on the heath. The lesson focuses on on sensory description and using a range of writing techniques including descriptive words, similes, metaphors, alliteration and personification. The activities check and reinforce understanding of these techniques before they put them into practice. The resources are fully differentiated with modelling and scaffolding included. Students identify one or more target skills to focus on and there is a further challenge activity for those who complete the main writing task. The progress slide allows you to demonstrate progress within the lesson easily and students enjoy working through the levels. Engaging full colour resources are provided. This could be used with a KS3 or lower set KS4 group and is great for using alongside the study of Macbeth to develop essential writing skills and create interleaved English studies.

A carousel lesson on Angela Carter's 'The Lady of the House of Love' for A Level Literature. Gets students focused on close analysis of language and symbolism and encourages them to make links to themes and context. Resources included are: Instruction slides; twelve A3 sheets containing key quotations from the story, with space for students to write their ideas in response to these quotations; a completed version of these sheets containing many points which are useful for understanding and revising the tale. The completed version is very useful for students to compare with their own version and is particularly helpful for revision.

Twelve challenging questions on 'The Erl-King' by Angela Carter (part of The Bloody Chamber collection) designed to be completed after reading the story. Created for the OCR A Level spec which heavily weights context and requires knowledge of critics, so these questions develop both of those skills.

A full Paper 1 Non-Fiction Texts and Transactional Writing mock exam for the new Edexcel IGCSE English Language A 2016 specification, to be first examined in Summer 2018. I designed this to mimic the sample material provided by Edexcel so it includes all the question types you would expect to find in Sections A and B of the exam. The booklet is 19 pages in total, providing space for students to write their answers. The two extracts that Section A is based on are from the 2012 specification - ‘Taking on the World’ (Ellen MacArthur) and ‘Explorers, or Boys Messing Around?’ (Stephen Morris - also in the updated 2016 anthology). For copyright reasons, I can’t include these extracts, however they are easily found on the Edexcel IGCSE website in the 2012 anthology (green cover). Any questions, please ask!

Thirteen questions on Angela Carter's 'Puss-in-Boots' tale from The Bloody Chamber collection. The questions are designed to be completed after reading the story and encourage further research and critical thinking. Created for the OCR A Level Literature comparative textual study which heavily weights context and requires knowledge of critics, so these questions test and develop both of these skills.

This lesson introduces essentialism and teaches students how to write an effective thesis/introduction to a comparative essay on essentialism and The Bloody Chamber. Designed for the OCR A Level English Literature comparative literary studies module. The resources include a fun 'odd-one-out' starter on stereotyping and essentialism, to be followed by discussion, a resource which clearly explains essentialism, a model thesis comparing two gothic texts (The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart) for students to read and dissect, a comparative essay question on essentialism and The Bloody Chamber and a paired activity in which students write a thesis in response to this question. The full essay is then written for homework. This lesson works well early-on in the A Level course as it gives students confidence in how to approach a comparative essay.

A research-based lesson to introduce the Commedia Dell'Arte stock characters which Carter draws on in 'Puss-in-Boots'. This could be completed before or after reading the story (although bear in mind that one of the questions asks students to make links with the story). Students will need access to the internet (this can be done on phones if necessary). The resources included are - slides with instructions, a research pack with questions on each stock character for students to complete, and a poster of each stock character for your classroom walls.